Mishima's sword Book

Things learned from this book:
1.Mishima was messed up. Big issues. Raised pretty much as a girl, born a sickly child not expected to live, he had issues not just with his masculinity but with life/death. Teased at school for being effeminate, he decided to become super-masculine, bulking up with muscle, studying martial arts and cultivating a macho image. He married and fathered children, because that's what real men do, but slept with men discreetly but not secretly.
2.Samurai wore rouge! Because, obviously, pale cheeks are a sign of cowardice.
3.If you ever decide to commit seppuku, remember the anal plug. And make sure your kaishaku is up to the job. I had no idea there was usually a second person, a kaishaku, involved in seppuku - their job being to cut the head off to ensure a quick death. Preferably cutting almost through the neck but not quite, so the head falls onto the chest, rather than rolling across the floor in an undignified manner. If you're at all squeamish, skip the part about Mishima's seppuku - it is extremely gory. The stomach-cutting is the least gory part of it all, if you can believe that.


This is a patchwork of a book. The author's life, travels to Japan and search for Mishima's sword and the truth about who Mishima was, interspersed with Mishima's life and death.